Rescue Me
by SashaKnightly
Summary: Special Agent Kate Todd finds information regarding a secret terrorist cell... and somehow Ziva David is involved? Kate is kidnapped and tortured for information, all while the team watches helplessly as they try to rescue her. Completely AU!
1. Chapter 1

Today's case was different from all the rest. It's heartbreaking, painful, and it didn't leave a single dry eye on the team. Not even Special Agent Gibbs, the fearless leader of them all, could withstand the temptation to mourn the lost. A Marine and his family, all killed in a shooting for what seemed to be vengeance. The Marine's wife, June, was an agent working with the CIA.

Her previous task, which had been classified until she was compromised, was to obtain information about the Israeli government and their intelligence agency, Mossad. June had been given bad intel, leading her to a secret terrorist cell located in Washington, DC. It was a ghost cell, the worst kind; the deadliest.

After finding this information, June and her family were killed in their home; execution style. Her, her husband and their twins were all victims of the terrible crime to try to keep her mouth shut.

Special Agent Kate Todd realized all of this after going through June's files in her office. Everyone had already called it a day; they'd gone home and promised to return early to work tomorrow to keep searching for the information that Kate now held in her hand. Sitting at her desk, Kate reached for a manila folder, stuffing all of the documents in and wrapping it in a strong tape that read 'CLASSIFIED' in bold red letters.

She tucked the folder under her arm and grabbed her bag, heading out to her car a planning to drop of the folder at Gibbs' house. When she walked out the door, she instinctively shivered from the cold winter air. DC was hell in the winter and the summer; it was either freezing or boiling. You never got the in-between.

Before she could reach her car, a strong arm wrapped around her chest and she felt a sharp prick in her neck. Kate dropped her papers and reached up to move the arm out of the way, but everything went fuzzy and she collapsed to the ground in an unconscious heap.

The man caught her as she went limp, scooping her up into his arms. He made sure to take the folder that she had dropped as well, but he mistakenly left her car keys lying on the ground. He put her in the back of a dark blue van, one that looked exactly like all the other NCIS official vans. After slamming the doors shut and locking them, he got in the front seat and started driving.


	2. Chapter 2

Kate woke up slowly, first her breathing sped up, and then she opened her eyes. Instinctively, she reached to rub her eyes, but found herself restrained. Her wrists were handcuffed to the wall she was sitting against.

"Well hello there," someone said. Kate blinked her eyes to get the blurriness out and found herself staring at the one person she hoped never to see again.

"Ziva, what are you doing here? I thought you went back to Israel." Kate asked, momentarily confused by her situation. The Israeli had left NCIS long ago, after Kate had returned from Witness Protection Program after being 'killed' by Ari Haswari.

She smiled, "I did return to my home, but more pressing matters led me back here. The intel that you discovered today, that was not meant for you to see. It was a shame that we had to kill that woman and her family, but we could not risk anyone finding out about the mission." Ziva sat in the single chair that was in the center of the concrete room. It was cold, dark, and damp; there was a single light overhead, flickering on and off. There were no windows at all, nothing to indicate what time of day it was at all.

"So you killed her then, June and her family?" Kate asked, ever the NCIS agent. She narrowed her eyes at Ziva, "How could you kill two innocent little children like that? You're a heartless bitch."

Ziva laughed, as if she was entertained by the thought, "You see Kate, I am a heartless bitch. A cold, emotionless rock; I kill for a living. It is all I know." The radio to her side buzzed and someone was saying something in a different language, one Kate was unfamiliar with. Ziva responded and stood up, a menacing twinkle in her eye. She turned on her heel and walked out of the room, locking the door behind her with a deadbolt.


	3. Chapter 3

_AN: Ahh! I love you all! It makes me so happy when I see that little email pop up that says someone else is following the story! Now I'm definitely going to keep writing! _

_wolfergirl – I know, so completely AU it's not even funny. But I feel like she's lost her old kick-ass self, plus her being one of the bad guys is essential to the story. *shrugs*_

"McGee, she is never ever late to work. Not once has miss perfect missed her alarm, or popped a tire, or forgotten to call in sick. It's not how Kate works! Aren't you worried? She's fifteen minutes late, fifteen minutes is a long time in Kate's world!" Tony yelled, pacing back and forth in the bullpen.

Tim rolled his eyes, "Relax Tony. She's fine, she stayed late at work last night remember? Maybe she just got out of bed late this morning. Cut her some slack, she's been coming early and staying late every day this week."

Tony sighed and plopped down into his chair, "I guess you're right. I'm just worried about her."

The elevator door pinged and Gibbs walked out, a grim look on his face. He tossed a shiny metal object through the air at Tony, "McGee, check all the cameras for the parking lot last night from the time we left."

"Boss…" Tony said softly, "These are Kate's keys."

"Yes DiNozzo and we're working a high profile case with a chance for one of us to cross people's lines." He said calmly, even though on the inside he was panicked at the thought of something happening to one of his team.

Suddenly Tony's computer pinged, he opened the email and his eyes widened in shock. "It's Ziva; she's been gone for months Boss. Why would she…" He opened the link in the email and immediately set it up on the plasma. It was Kate, her handcuffed to the wall and in a daze.

"That backstabbing, lying bitch!" Tony said, standing up in outrage at the video. His voice went up a few octaves, and had the situation not been so serious, McGee would have laughed at him. But this was Kate, and she was kidnapped. She was crying, she looked terrified, she was scared. "I can't believe Ziva would do that! What the hell!"

Then they saw Kate pick her head up as a door opened, the team still couldn't see whoever was in there, but what they said next made it obvious. "So nice to see you again Caitlin," a man's voice said.

Gibbs thought he was dead.

McGee was almost killed by him.

Tony wanted nothing more than to put six rounds into his chest.

"Ari." Kate said it like a poison she wanted out of her system. Ari stepped into the camera frame, stopping to look up at the team with a wave. He was obviously confident enough to think that the feed had gotten through to the office, where McGee was hurriedly trying to track down the IP address that it came from.

Ari smiled, "Greetings Agent Gibbs, did you miss me?" By now the team was utterly confused, hadn't Ziva killed Ari? Wasn't he supposed to be dead; he should have been dead and long gone.

"Damn it! Find him McGee! Get Abby to help you!" Gibbs said as McGee scrambled to follow his orders, "Tony, I want all the security tapes from last night. All of them."

Tony looked confused, "I thought McGee was… right Boss he's tracking Kate." He turned to his computer and pulled up the tapes from the parking lot last night and put them on the plasma. He played them in fast forward and they watched everyone leave. They slowed it down when they saw Kate enter the corner of the screen, a folder tucked under her arm as she fiddled with her car keys. They saw as someone came up and injected her with something in the neck, they watched her fall; they saw it all.

"I'm going to find him, and I'm going to kill him." Tony declared boldly, Gibbs nodded solemnly beside him and put a hand on Tony's shoulder. It was comforting, meant to reassure the younger agent; Gibbs needed his team to be strong for this one, they needed to depend on each other so they could save one of their own.


	4. Chapter 4

_AN: Here's to chapter four ladies and gentlemen. May the odds be ever in Kate's favor… or not. CAUTION: Slightly graphic but not really, it's like drinking water from a shot glass, it looks daring but it's really not. If you don't get the reference, then I'll put it like this: If you don't like scalpels, blood, or guns; you shouldn't be reading this chapter. _

Ari unlocked Kate from her restraints, pulling her up to her feet and leading her out of the room. This action confused both Tony and Gibbs, because they knew that they were being tortured as well by watching Kate be kidnapped, and it was agony to watch her be taken away again. "Come on DiNozzo, we're taking this to MTAC." He said, they both hustled up there, the feed from Tony's computer switched over the main screen in MTAC. Abby and McGee had a screen in the corner where Gibbs and Tony could watch them work in the lab. The scan for Kate's cell phone was running, as was the trace for the IP address that the email was sent from.

The empty room turned to a static screen, black and white dots bouncing around. "Did we lose him?" Gibbs barked, "I want that screen back…" But he didn't have to finish his sentence because the camera turned back on, this time in a different room. The room had white tile flooring, scuffed and a grayish color from the aging; the walls were the same cinderblock as the other room, adding to the darkness of the mood. A few lights illuminated the room with a hazy glow. Kate was sitting in the middle in a metal chair, her wrists tied tightly to the arms of the chair. Around her midsection was another length of rope, securing her to the chair and providing for very little movement.

Already there was a thin red line across her face and it was dripping with blood, Ari came back into view and he was spinning a scalpel around in his hand. But apparently that wasn't enough, because he set it down on a table that was out of sight and came back, empty handed. He pulled up a chair in front of Kate and sat down, leaning forward with a grim smile. "Tell me Caitlin, what do you know about Ghost?" Ari asked, using the codename for the operation they were running.

She stared at him, fire in her eyes and fury threatening to spill from her lips. Kate wasn't going to answer any questions for this son of a bitch who thought he could rule the world. She pursed her lips and wished she could flip him off, but the restraints wouldn't allow it. Ari smiled again, "We can either do this the easy way, or the hard way. So be a good girl and answer my question, what do you know about Ghost?" When it was obvious that Kate wasn't going to tell him anything, he slapped her across the face, hard. He could hear her wince and try to hold back the tears in her eyes as she turned to face him again.

"I know enough to realize that you're a bastard with no regards for humanity." Kate said; her words cold and emotionless.

"Well then, I take it you have not found the entire file. See, this isn't just about revenge on a few people, this is revenge on NCIS. I will take back what was stolen from me, my pride." Ari said, the smile disappearing as he stood up. He walked back to the table and returned with the scalpel, this time he walked slow circles around Kate. "I have always believed that pain was the only way to find out information, and you have a lot of intel that I would love to know." He stopped in front of her, "I'll let you start talking, and if you don't; I can promise you that things will get ugly."

Kate stayed strong, staring straight ahead with no regard for Ari or what he was threatening. He walked around so that he was behind her and pulled on her tank top strap with the end of the scalpel. "It's so easy to hurt you, one slip of my hand and I can cause pain." To demonstrate this he dragged the blade lightly along her shoulder, cutting the smallest of cuts. There was little blood, but he knew Kate could feel it.

It went on like this for at least an hour, there were more cuts and scrapes on Kate than anyone could count. Tears were freely flowing down her face but she never cried out. Ari was obviously losing his patience with her, because he resorted to a lower form of torture, finding that the scalpel wasn't getting results as well as he thought it would.

"You think you're tough don't you Caitlin," Ari said from off screen where Tony and Gibbs couldn't see him. Whatever he said next was cut out as McGee yelled into the mic, "Boss! We've got a location! He's about an hour away in an old warehouse complex. It's the middle of nowhere and it'll take you too long to get there in a car.

Suddenly a gunshot rang out in the video feed and a red blossom popped up in one of Kate's legs, the bullet completely lodging itself in her calf. She let out a bloodcurdling scream, realizing she wasn't cut out for this. She wasn't trained to resist pain, she was trained to study people and read their intentions. Kate was good undercover, but she wasn't good when there was a bullet lodged in her leg.

"I'll call in a favor McGee, just get your ass in gear and get up here!" He yelled, pulling out his cell phone. Tony watched in shock as Ari continued to torment Kate, he was ready to kill him. Or cry. He didn't know what to do. Finally the person Gibbs was calling picked up.

"General, I've got a favor to ask of you."

_AN: Pause for dramatic tension! Please REVIEW if you haven't already and I'll keep the story going… the REVIEW button gives me INSPIRATION PEEPS! SO PRESS THE BUTTON! And if you haven't realized this yet, I love you all!_


	5. Chapter 5

_AN: Last chapter peeps! I know that this seemed short but originally I had written that first part to jumpstart my brain, hadn't intended four more chapters! LOL! I love you all, more stories to come soon after this….. and maybe a sequel? Tell me what you want! _

The helicopter touched down about half a mile out from where McGee had located Kate. The boys jumped out, along with three other NCIS agents from the other MCRT team. They ran from the helicopter as it took off into the air again. Each agent had their bullet proof vest on, and they were all packing more than usual. One agent had a full first aid kit in his backpack for when they got to Kate so they could fix her up before they could airlift her to the hospital.

"Let's move out team, watch each other's backs, watch yourselves, and keep your eyes on the target." Gibbs said, taking the lead with Tony flanking his left and Agent Lynch flanking his right. They ran as fast as they could through the woods until they reached the edge of the warehouse complex. It looked like a ghost town; all they needed was tumbleweed or two.

They moved along the perimeter silently until they reached the warehouse that Kate was being held in. Slowly and cautiously, they split up, one team taking the back and the other taking the front. They were all connected back to headquarters through the earwigs in their ears, but Gibbs was special. He had a direct feed from Abby and MTAC, so he was getting info from both. They heard gunshots echo in the building and Gibbs heard Abby's voice in his ear but a moment later, "You've got to hurry Gibbs. That's another bullet in her leg."

The teams moved quickly, taking the staircase downstairs and silently taking out the guards by the door at the bottom. Tony opened the door and it showed them a hallway, an empty one, or so they assumed. They took a few steps down the hallway before Ziva appeared at the opposite end, a canister in each hand. She smiled and pulled the pin on each canister, rolling them down the hallway and disappearing. The cans started to hiss and a purplish vapor was emitted from them. The agents pulled on their gas masks that they had with them and trudged onward, down the hallway and down another winding staircase.

They heard cries for help behind one of the doors and the six agents assembled by it. Tony took a step back and attempted to kick the door in, but he ended up bouncing off of it and falling to the ground. McGee tried the doorknob, and to his surprise it worked. Ari turned around as they rushed in screaming the usual mantra, "NCIS! Put your hands in the air! Drop the weapon!"

This was Ari Haswari though, and he didn't go down without a fight. He aimed the gun at one of the agents and emptied his clip into his bulletproof vest before receiving five bullets in his own unprotected chest, one from each agent that wasn't being shot at. The Israeli fell to the ground, coughing up blood and convulsing as he slowly died.

Tony dropped to his knees beside Kate, using his knife to saw through the ropes and free her. When she was out, she threw her arms around his neck and held on tight, threatening Tony's air supply just a bit. He carried her out of the building like this; her arms wrapped fiercely around his neck while he cradled the rest of her gently. Gibbs had summoned the helicopter back.

They took Kate in the helicopter, and she was accompanied by Tony who had ditched all of his firepower with Gibbs in trade for a face mask and a few rolls of gauze.

In that moment, as the helicopter lifted off with two of the best members of his team; and as the rest of the agents secured the crime scene, Gibbs knew that his team had done well. He was relieved that there wasn't another funeral to plan. And he knew that there was going to have to be a new rule added to the list.

It was basically derived from an old quote, "When you can't run, you walk. When you can't walk, you crawl. And when you can't crawl, get someone to carry you."

Rule #52: No matter what, the team will always carry you home.


End file.
